Gems of War News

Underspire is a new weekly game mode that is similar to the old school sprawling dungeons in tabletop RPGs. It is also a mash-up of Explore, Delve and Journey events.

The goal of Underspire is to work your way through a mega-dungeon, fighting through 6 Mini Bosses, earning Keystones to unlock doors and searching for the final boss room, where you can earn Dragonite and Diamonds. There are plenty of other valuable rewards along the way though.

• Underspire is a mash-up of Explore, Delve and Journey events.
  
• The goal of Underspire is to work your way through a mega-dungeon, searching for the final boss room, where you can earn Dragonite and Diamonds. There are plenty of other valuable rewards along the way though.
  
• Underspire will replace Explore for the Weekly Kingdom (all other Kingdoms will still have Explore available).
  • Explore Progress will resume once the week is over.
    
  • The Weekly Kingdom will not get the Mythstone Bonus while it has Underspire active.
• Underspire is also available from the Games menu (it has replaced Arena near the start of the menu along the bottom).
  • Arena can be found further into the menu.
• Underspire will be tied to the Weekly Kingdom, so players will need to use Troops and Weapons from that Kingdom in battles for that week.
  
• The Underspire Map begins play as hidden (apart from the starting room). Players need to uncover the Underspire map as they play. Only the adjacent Rooms to their current room will be uncovered.
  
• Underspire Maps will be unique to a player so everyone will have a different map each week.
  • However, all players will have important locations of similar distance (there is a randomness to the distance but it is balanced to be as close as possible for all players).
• Each battle will require either 1 Torch or 1 Lantern to play – these are a form of Energy for the event.
  
• Torches are the basic free form of energy
  • Torches allow you to play a battle, and players will earn up to 7 Torches per day for free, which will stack when earned each day.
    
  • Players can purchase 5 more Torches in the Torches bundle up to 3 times per day.
    
  • Like purchasing further Delve Energy, the cost starts at 50 Gems but will increase with each purchase per day before resetting at Daily Reset.
• Lanterns are an advanced premium form of energy
  • Lanterns can only be gained by purchasing the Lantern Booster pack, which contains 5 lanterns.
    
  • There is no cap to how many times you can purchase lanterns, or to how many lanterns you can have. Excess lanterns will be lost at the end of the event though.
    
  • Lanterns will increase the vision of adjacent rooms by 1 (beyond what Torches show), allowing players to see 2 rooms away, giving more information about possible directions to take.
    
  • Like the Golden Holiday Booster in Holiday events, players will gain a bonus reward for purchasing the Lantern Booster 3 times, and 5 times.
• Players will be able to get 1 free Lantern from the first Goblin Merchant they encounter in Underspire.
  
• Some paths in the Underspire will be blocked and will require a Keystone to get past.
  
• There are 6 rarities of Keystones, and they will all need to be collected in order to
  
• progress through the Underspire and reach the final boss room.
  
• There are 2 ways to get a Keystone: Defeating a Mini Boss or Purchasing it from a Goblin Merchant.
  
• There are 6 Mini Bosses – one for each Keystone. The first Mini Boss can be reached without any requirements, but each following Mini Boss will require the previous Mini Boss’ Keystone to access the area of the dungeon where they are located.
  
• Each Mini Boss also contains extra bonus rewards that are unique to that Mini Boss.
  
• Players may discover a Merchant Room while exploring the dungeon, which will open up the Goblin Merchant’s shop.
  
• There are only 6 Goblin Merchants in an Underspire, and they each sell:
  • 1 Keystone (of appropriate level based on Merchant’s location)
    
  • 2 Random Trinkets (each can be purchased in groups of 5)
    • The first Goblin Merchant replaces 1 Trinket with his free Lantern offer.
• Players can return to a Goblin Merchant to purchase more Trinkets from them if they wish.
  
• There are 6 different types of Trinkets that players can collect, each with their own effect that will apply to the battle.
  • Frost Trinket – Freezes all enemies at the start of battle
    
  • Bone Trinket – Creates 6 Doomskulls at the start of battle
    
  • Death Trinket – Deathmarks all enemies at the start of battle
    
  • Hex Trinket – Curses all enemies at the start of battle
    
  • Wild Trinket – Creates 4 x3 Wildcards at the start of battle
    
  • Resistance Trinket – Gives the Spell Armor trait to all allies for the battle
• Trinkets can only be used in a single battle before they are consumed.
  
• Players can choose which battles they would like to use their Trinkets in, so they can save them for harder battles if they prefer.
  
• After players defeat all 6 Mini Bosses (or purchase all 6 Keystones), they will be able to access the final Boss for Underspire.
  
• Other battles will use Rooms that players may have encountered in Delves, or Tower of Doom. This includes Start, Boss and Doom rooms.
  • The regular Room rewards from these Rooms are not given as they are unique to either Delves or Tower of Doom.
• There is a mini map that players can use to view the Underspire that they have revealed so far.
  
• Key locations are visible on the Mini Map (i.e. Goblin Merchant, Bosses, Keystones, Undefeated Battles).
  
• Players can tap on a location to be taken to that spot in the Underspire.
  • Players will need to close the Mimi Map before they can see that they have moved.
• Players will be able to access the Deep Shrine menu from the Underspire menu when it’s active. (More on Deep Shrines below)
  

• We have updated the visuals for Troop cards to a new style.
  
• Troop cards will now focus more on the Mana Colors of a Troop than the rarity.
  • This is to help newer players who get confused what Mana colors they need to collect to power up their Troops and particularly their Weapons. We also believe it looks more aesthetically pleasing.
• This visual update also applies to the Elite Level look for cards, which have been updated to match the new look.
  
• Weapons have colored stars under the weapon image that reflect the Weapon’s rarity.
  • This will match the background for the Weapon spell icon.
• Troops in Battles have also been updated to match this new style, this includes a new spell ready animation that appears on the card.
  
• Enemy Heroes will display their Class icon in battle on their Troop card.
  

We have introduced Shiny Troops to the game. For anyone who has been playing for 7 or more years, these aren’t like the previous “shiny” versions you encountered – which were reasonably subtle and displayed on cards at max level. Read below to learn more:

• Troops can now become Shiny Troops, and get a visual and gameplay update.
  • Only 30 Troops will be able to become Shiny when 7.0 launches. (See table below)
    
  • All 30 troops are Common, Rare, Ultra-Rare or Epic Troops.
    
  • There are plans for Legendary and Mythic Shiny Troops in a future update.
• Troops can become Shiny at any time and don’t require that the troop is fully ascended, leveled or traited.
  
• Shiny Troops have 3 Levels that each give a small bonus
  • Level 1: -1 Mana Cost to Troop’s Spell
    
  • Level 2: Enhanced version of the Troop’s Spell
    
  • Level 3: -1 Mana Cost to Troop’s Spell (stacks with the level 1 bonus)
• Each Level of Shiny Troop unlocks some lore for the Troop.
  
• Players will need to earn Shiny Tokens for a Troop in order to unlock Shiny Levels.
  
• Level 1: 5 Tokens Required
  
• Level 2: 10 more Tokens Required
  
• Level 3: 20 more Tokens Required
  
• Each Troop has their own Shiny Token, which can be earned from Shiny Chests.
  
• Shiny Chests are a new chest that can be accessed from the Chest Menu.
  
• Shiny Chests will give 1-3 Tokens for a Troop.
  
• Once a Troop has reached Shiny level 3 and maxed out, their Tokens will turn into 5 Shiny Dust.
  
• Players will be able to exchange 100 Shiny Dust for a Shiny Token for a Troop that is not Shiny Level 3.
  
• Players can earn Shiny Keys from end stage rewards in weekly events, or from new weekly event offers (read more about that below).
  
• Players can view a Troop’s Shiny Level Progress on the Troop’s Overview menu (More Options menu > Overview).
  
• Players will be able to access the Shiny Troop’s menu by tapping that area of the screen.
  
• Each week one of the newly released Troops will also be able to become Shiny, and their Token will be added to Shiny Chests.
  
• We will look to add additional Shiny Troops for other previously released Troops in future updates.
  

It’s time to mix things up a bit with weekly events!

We’ve been running World Events back to back for a couple of years now and we found ourselves missing the variety of week long Raid Bosses, Invasions and Towers of Doom. We also found that Journey were fun and we just wanted to experience all of those more often.

We are returning to a weekly guild event rotation, with Raid Boss and Invasion returning as weekly events alongside World, Journey and Tower of Doom events. Raid Boss, Invasion, Journey and Tower of Doom events have received some improvements as part of this change.

• Raid Boss, Invasion, Journey and Tower of Doom Overview menu for all events have received an update to clearly show current progress, highlight event troops (or weapon), and clearly show what the player restrictions are for that event.
  
• The Event Troops in Raid Boss, Invasion, and Journey Events are now defined as “Event Captains”.
  
• Event Captains gain double magic when used in their event, and for Raid Boss + Invasion, they also double the score earned from a battle.
  • E.g. Event Captain will count double the “Towers Destroyed” if used in the Invasion Event.
    
  • Journey Guides were already multiplying the score for Journey battles, so they have not received this update.
• Event Troops from older events will not be Event Captains, it will only apply to the Troop who is highlighted on the Event’s Overview menu (a new troop released that week).
  
• The Doomed Weapon in Tower of Doom will be the “Event Weapon”, which – in a similar vein – will give the double score bonus when used in its Tower of Doom event. (But not the double magic).
  
• Raid Boss has a new Boss Enemy that players will encounter, Ctharrasque.
  • There will be a craftable Ctharrasque in the Soulforge similar to Zuul’Goth.
    
  • This will be added to the Soulforge at weekly reset.
• In each Event Shop there is now a Buy Tiers I -VI option, that will purchase Tiers I – VI for the event, and give a bonus Orb of Chaos.
  • This Buy Tiers I -VI option is only available in weekly events, and not the 1-day/ weekend events like Faction Assault. We will look to add this feature to them in a future update.
    
  • We did not include Tier VII since it is repeatable and could cause confusion whether it was received or not.
• The Buy Tiers I -VI option is only available when players have not purchased any Tiers, and will disappear if players purchase Tier I.
  • There will be a warning that appears if players go to purchase Tier I, warning them that the Buy Tiers I -VI Option will disappear if they purchase Tier I.
• The gem cost for Buy Tiers I -VI is the same as purchasing Buy Tiers I -VI individually.
  
• We have 2 new Weekly Event Offers that will appear in the game – the Headstart Offer, and the Heroic Booster offer.
  • These new offers will not be available for World Events at this stage.
• The Headstart Offer will appear 48hrs before the next event begins, and runs up until the event starts at weekly Reset.
  
• The Headstart Offer will contain the following rewards:
  • Event Headstart – This will start the player further in the event, and give them some score based on the headstart. The Headstart is different in each event – it is roughly the equivalent of purchasing 20 Sigils and playing those battles.
    
  • 5 Shiny Troop Tokens – These Tokens will match the new Shiny Troop that will be released at weekly reset with that event.
    
  • 4 Shiny Keys – These will open Shiny Chests
    
  • Bonus Reward – This Reward changes depending on the event type.
• The Heroic Booster will appear 48 hours after the weekly event begins, and will run for 48 hours before disappearing.
  
• The Heroic Booster will contain the following rewards:
  • Potion of Heroism
    
  • 20 Sigils for the Event
    
  • 4 Shiny Keys
• The Potion of Heroism will give the player’s hero double magic when used in the weekly event.
  • This only applies to the weekly event, and will not apply to other game modes like PvP or explore.
• With all these changes we have adjusted the difficulty scaling in Raid Boss, Invasion, Tower of Doom and Journey Events at higher levels.
  • This has been done with free players in mind – players should be able to achieve similar rewards for free as they did previously.
• Along with these changes we have extended the Stage Rewards in these events from 12 Stages to 16 Stages.
  
• Some of the rewards at these higher Stages include-
  • Shiny Keys
    
  • Cursed Runes
    
  • Dragonite
    
  • Tokens for the new Shiny Troop for that week
• We introduced Weapon Restrictions to Raid Boss and Tower Doom, so weapons being taken into battle match the restrictions of the Troops.
  

• Deep Shrines are a new type of Shrine that spawn every 2 weeks.
  
• Deep Shrines have 5 levels of rewards that can be earned and purchased.
  
• Each level requires a different resource to collect:
  • Level 1: Gold
    
  • Level 2: Souls
    
  • Level 3: Glory
    
  • Level 4: Minor Colored Traitstones
    
  • Level 5: Runic Colored Traitstones
• Deep Shrines are tied to the 6 Mana Colors, and require Traitstones matching the Color of the Shrine at levels 4 and 5 (which will be the same as the color of the weekly Kingdom).
  
• Purchasing a Deep Shrine Level will also give extra rewards (on top of the resource)
  • Level 1 Bonus: 1 Orb of Chaos + a Underspire Pack
    
  • Level 2 Bonus: 2 Epic Vault Keys + a Underspire Pack
    
  • Level 3 Bonus: 25 Cursed Runes + a Underspire Pack
    
  • Level 4 Bonus: 1 Major Orb of Chaos + a Underspire Pack
    
  • Level 5 Bonus: 100 Dragonite + a Underspire Pack
• Purchasing all 5 Levels will give a bonus Mythic Medal of Nysha on top of the other rewards.
  
• Underspire Packs contains rewards that can be used in that week’s Underspire:
  • 3 Torches
    
  • 6 Random Trinkets
• Deep Shrines will always appear in the left most side of the Shrines Menu while active.
  
• Players will need to go into the Deep Shrine popup menu to purchase the Shrine.
  
• In the Deep Shrine menu players will be able to select each level to view them, but they must be earned and purchased in order.
  
• Deep Shrines last for 1 week, starting and ending with the weekly event.
  
• Deep Shrines are linked to the Underspire (a convenient place to get their rewards) but the resources can be earned in other game modes too.
  

We have 2 new Achievements for this update:

• A Diamond in the Rough: Upgrade 3 Troops to Shiny Level 1
  
• I’m So Shiny: Upgrade 5 Troops to Shiny Level 2
  

• The Shrine Menu has been updated to be a full screen menu and players can slide the Shrines horizontally to view them all.
  
• All Shrines will now display half the collectible reward or the current amount (whichever is higher)
  • Rather than players seeing 0 Gold when a new Shrine begins, which was causing confusion for some players.
• The Priestess from Whitehelm’s art has been updated. She is now one of the tutorial troops and she asked us if she could look her best. You can’t say no to a priestess…
  
• Trial Offers (Troops + Starry Pets) will now display a confirmation screen if the player tries to close the menu without purchasing anything.
  • Players gave us feedback that they were accidentally closing the menu
• The Opening Tutorial Sequence now has a help button that will bring the tutorial back up if new players want to review the tutorial or accidentally close it too quickly.
  
• We have made some improvements to the Intro Questline to make the battles quicker and easier for new players to complete.
  
• The World Map Menu UI now unlocks when players reach the World Map after the Intro Questline (instead of after the 2nd Quest of Broken Spire)
  
• Completing or Skipping a Campaign Task will now animate to make it clear that players have finished a Task and received a new one.
  
• We have removed the Settings option to Show/ Hide Spell Mana Details, as the new card layout allows the mana costs to live separately to the Mana Orb.
  
• We have added an animation when players complete a task, to make it easier to see when they have started a new Task.
  
• Players can now select the Bonus Reward item in flash offers to get the reward’s help text.
  • Newer players didn’t have a means to tell what a reward was.

We have fixed an assortment of smaller issues including, but not limited to:

• Fixing the visual issue in Advent Calendars where the Heading graphic was overlapping Heading Text for the Calendar.
  
• Fixing missing art on Mobile builds
  
• Fixing the issue on Switch that prevented players from getting into the game when the Summer Holiday event was active.
  
• Fixing a few of the wandering Genie/ Daemon buffs and debuffs that were misbehaving.
  

We are aware of the following issues which will be addressed in the next update.

• There is a visual issue where Bronze Troops are not displaying their Bronze card frame.
  
• There is a visual issue where returning from the Troop Overview menu for a Shiny Troop, will not display the reduce Mana Cost in the Troop Menu
  
• When using Suggest a Troop, it will recommend weapons that don’t match the Kingdom restrictions.
  
• If a player returns to the weekly Kingdom’s menu after playing explore in another Kingdom, the Underspire button and Explore buttons appear to overlap.
  

Trials are a new system that will be replacing Challenges within a Kingdom. They teach new players game mechanics and give useful resources while Epic Trials reward experienced players with Starry Kingdom Pets which increase the Kingdom Team Bonus.

• Trials have a single battle for each Tier.
  
• Trials will give players a team of Troops from that Kingdom that they must use to defeat the Enemy team.
  • The player’s team will be based on themes for the Kingdom.
    
  • The enemy team will use Troops from that Kingdom.
• The Player’s Troops’ levels, traits and ascensions for their Kingdom team will be based on the versions of those Troops that the Player owns.
  • If a player does not own a copy of a troop the Trial will use a level 5 version of the Troop with no traits or ascensions.
• Players will be able to change the order of the Troops on the team to suit their own play Styles.
  
• Like Challenges, Trials have 10 Tiers that need to be completed in order.
  
• Trial Tiers will increase in difficulty similar to how Challenge Tiers did previously.
  
• Players will earn the same amount of rewards from Trials as they did from Challenges (even though there are less battles than before).
  • This means players who are in the middle of completing their Challenges, and players who have already completed all Challenges, will not miss out on any rewards.
• Kingdom Quests that previously unlocked a Challenge Battle, will now give Soul rewards.
  • This replaces the Souls they would have earned from the Challenge Battle those Quests would have unlocked.
    
  • The first Quest in a Kingdom will still unlock the first Trial in their Kingdom.
• When a player completes a Trial, if they do not own all Troops on the Trial team, they will be shown an offer that will give them 1 copy of each Troop on the team for a Gem cost.
  

Extra Note: Kingdom Trial Teams may change in the future as more Troops release in a Kingdom or if a Kingdom receives a rework.

• Epic Trials are additional Trials that can appear in a Kingdom when that Kingdom is the focus of a weekly event.
  
• Epic Trials will only appear, and can only be played, if a player has completed all regular Trials in that Kingdom.
  
• There are 5 Epic Trial Battles in a Kingdom each Week.
  
• Like regular Trials, each Epic Trial Battle will increase in difficulty as they progress (starting at Level 225 Enemies, and working up to Level 350).
  
• Completing an Epic Trial Battle will give a copy of the Kingdom’s Starry Pet, the final Battle will give 2 copies of the Starry Pet. (More on Starry Pets Below).
  
• Starry Pets are exclusive to Epic Trials (they cannot be earned anywhere else).
  
• Starry Pets add to their Kingdom’s Team bonus (stacking with any existing bonuses from Kingdom Pets).
  
• After completing an Epic Trial Battle, players will be given an offer to purchase additional copies of the Starry Pet for Gems.
  
• Players will be able to replay the Epic Trial Battles in a Kingdom, starting from the first one again, each time that Kingdom is a weekly Kingdom.
  

We have made some improvements to Campaigns.

• Campaign Menus have been updated to the new UI Style.
  
• We made the goal of each task easier to achieve while playing the game normally. This means that players will not need to change their team, hunt for a specific Troop or play in a specific game mode to complete a Campaign Task.
  
• We have reduced the number of tasks required to complete each week to 1 for each rarity (Gold, Silver, Bronze).
  
• Tasks now have a higher goal to achieve for the task, however we have added milestones that help break the Tasks down into smaller goals which they can achieve during the week.
  
• Each Task has 5 milestones, once a milestone has been achieved players are able to collect the Stars from that milestone (so players can collect milestones while they work to complete the task).
  • Players can also choose to wait until they complete the Task fully before they collect any Stars.
• The amount of Stars per Task has changed as part of the change to 1 Task for each rarity (players still earn 100 Stars per week)
  • GOLD = 50 Stars
    
  • SILVER = 30 Stars
    
  • BRONZE = 20 Stars
• Each Milestone is worth 20% of the total amount of Stars per Task.
  
• Players still need to complete a Task from a previous week before they can progress to any future weeks’ Task.
  
• As the Tasks are now easier, we have removed Task rerolls, and replaced it with a Skip Milestone option. This allows players to spend Gems to skip the current milestone in a Task (ie 20% of the task).
  • GOLD = 100 Gems
    
  • SILVER = 80 Gems
    
  • BRONZE = 60 Gems
• We have made adjustments to Skipping Tasks gem costs to reflect the change in Star value, and the fact that there is only 1 Task for each rarity now. (Skipping all Tasks in the week still costs the same amount of Gems as before).
  • GOLD = 500 Gems
    
  • SILVER = 400 Gems
    
  • BRONZE = 300 Gems
• We have changed the first reward of each week to give more valuable rewards for that week.
  
• We changed the Campaign tutorial to use the new popup animation tutorials that we introduced with the opening tutorial sequence.
  • The new popup tutorials are also viewable by selecting the ? button on each tab of the menu.
    

We have given the Quest menu an update to both UI and flow of the menu.

• Quest menu has been modernized to better match the new UI style. It will also more clearly show rewards and progress.
  
• We have added a quest tracker along the bottom so players can easily see the number of quests in the questline, and the rewards they will get from each quest.
  • Players can interact with the reward icons along the bottom to get a popup explaining the reward.
    

We have added a new questline that slots in between new players creating a character to the beginning of Broken Spire.

• After a new player creates their character they will get to choose between 3 possible weapons.
  • Players will be able to craft the weapons they didn’t select in the Soulforge later on. (This will also allow older Players a chance to craft them as well during the week of weapon’s kingdom).
• The new questline will continue the story first introduced with the new Opening Tutorial sequence joining that story and the start of Broken Spire together.
  
• The intro questline will guide players through the first 5 levels teaching some of the early game mechanics, such as equipping Weapons, leveling Troops, etc.
  • These tutorials will replace the ones originally taught during early Broken Spire Quests.
• During the intro questline players will gain 3 Troops to make up the new starting team – Kitsune, Priestess, and Goblin Bomber.
  • They will replace the Baby Dragon, Goblin, and Warhound troops that new players used to gain from the opening tutorial and early Broken Spire Quests.
• We have adjusted Hero Leveling for the first 7 battles to automatically award a Gem Mastery rather than have players choose during the intro questline.
  • We have also changed the Gem Mastery required for early weapons so that new players do not get overwhelmed with new weapons while they are learning the game.
• Completing the intro questline will award Eleanor for players to use (similar to how our Kingdom Quest rewards the Quest Giver/ Epic Troop for the Kingdom).
  
• Due to the addition of the intro questline, we have made some changes to Broken Spire’s Quests.
  • The first 2 quests will no longer award the Goblin, and Warhound.
    
  • The difficulty for Broken Spire will be adjusted slightly as players will be starting the Broken Spire Quests at level 5 now.
• The new troop that players fight in the Intro Questline – the Rat Swarm will go into chests with weekly reset.
  

With the addition of the Intro Questline, we have made a few changes in the Adventurer’s Path.

• We have changed the level that some Game Features will unlock:
  • “Troop Level 5” now unlocks at Level 1 (was Level 5 previously)
    
  • “Weapon Tempering” now unlocks at Level 3 (was Level 15 previously)
    
  • “World Map” now unlocks at Level 5 (was Level 1 previously)
    
  • “Troop Level 15” now unlocks at Level 15 (was Level 16 previously)
• “Kingdom Challenges” has been renamed to “Kingdom Trials”, but it will continue to unlock at the same level (Level 6)
  
• We have simplified some of the Game Feature descriptions on the Hero Path menu. So they are easier to understand and read on smaller devices.
  
• We have added the following Troops to the Adventurer’s Chest:
  • Priestess
    
  • Eleanor
    

We have made some improvements to Kingdom Pass based on feedback from the community, and observations we have noticed from the past couple of Kingdom Passes.

• Kingdom Passes will be changing to run only for 2 weeks.
  
• We are changing the Kingdom Pass Battlecrashers so they will have a flat chance to appear (i.e. They will no longer decrease in chance to appear the more players encounter them).
• Kingdom Pass Battlecrashers will now drop 2 Crowns instead of 1.
  
• Kingdom Pass Battlecrashers can now be encountered in Quests.
  
• We have updated the Kingdom Pass icon button on the world map to make it easier to view current level progress on smaller devices.
  
• We have updated the Kingdom Pass UI to match the new UI style. (More menu changes are listed below)
• We have changed the menu so it’s easier to identify which Kingdom the Kingdom Pass is for.
  
• We have added a Kingdom Battlecrasher tracker to the Kingdom Pass Menu, so players can see how many Battlecrashers they have encountered for the day, and how long before they reset.
  • The Tracker will also display the Troop the player should look out for.
• We have improved the Level + Crown tracking section in the menu.
  
• We have increased the reward sizes on the reward track map slightly, to try and help improve the readability on mobile devices.
  
• We have moved the Kingdom Pass Level Gem purchase button to live over the level that would be purchased.
  
• We have added a new Help Popup that should give a quick overview to how the Kingdom Pass works.
  

We have 3 new Achievements for this update:

• The Midas Touch: Complete all milestones in a Gold Campaign Task
  
• Trials & Tribulations: Complete 5 Epic Trials
  
• Loot & Boot: Destroy 20 Booty Gems
  • Booty Gems will become available in a future Campaign that begins towards the end of 6.9
    

We have change a few Achievements for this update to replace achievements about Challenges or Rerolling Campaign Tasks:

• Challenger: Complete your First Trial Battle
  • Previously – Complete your First Challenge Battle
• Champion: Complete 2 Trial Battles in a Single Kingdom
  • Previously – Complete 5 Challenge Battles in a Single Kingdom
• It’s A Long Way To The Top: Complete a Tier V Trial in any Kingdom
  • Previously – Complete Challenge Tier V in any Kingdom
• Bronzed and Beautiful: Complete a Bronze Task in any Campaign
  • Previously – They See Me Re-Rollin’: Reroll a Campaign Task

• We have done an update on all the new UI graphics that we have been adding for the new UI Style to make sure they share the same style and colors.
  
• We have changed the starting speed for new players to be x1.5 instead of x1.25.
  
• We have moved The Guardian Dragon in the 3rd battle of the Opening Tutorial Sequence to be 3rd position on the Enemy team.
  
• We have added a new Heroic Gem for a future Campaign, the Booty Gem.
  

• We have fixed an issue where Choice Spells would display their spell text incorrectly when looking at the Troop overview.
  
• We have fixed an issue where the Pet card for Spike was missing.
  
• We have fixed an issue where the Centuragon’s spell cast was not giving Mana to the first Troop when resolving Wild Card gem matches.
  
• We have fixed an issue where some Troops’ art + spell art was missing on mobile devices.
  
• We have fixed an issue where some players couldn’t see the Dark Pits’ Deep Delve map.
  
• We have fixed the Purification buff from Genie + Daemon wandering merchant encounters, so that it will only apply to Allies, and not enemies.
  
• We have fixed an assortment of smaller issues.
  

We have redone the opening tutorial sequences for new players.

• The new tutorial sequence now contains conversations that use the new comic style that we have in the rest of the game.
  
• The new tutorial sequence contains 3 battles, each battle will teach 3 different things for the game.
  
• The new tutorial sequence tells a new story introducing Luther, as well as new characters and troops (including Luther’s Daughter, Eleanor).
  
• The new troops – Eleanor, Mysterious Hero, the Guardian Dragon, and the Militiaman come from Sword’s Edge and can be found from Chests after weekly reset. (This will allow players to update to 6.8 before these new troops are released.)
  
• We have simplified Hero Creation so players choose between 3 possible Avatars, and can tap on the Hero name to change it.
  • Players can still change their avatar and hero name in the game like they can currently.

We have added a new type of popup tutorial in the new opening tutorial sequence. We will be looking to replace some of the existing tutorials with this new style of tutorial in future updates.



We have added a new random encounter system that can trigger at the end of non-boss battles in Explore and Delves.

• The Wandering Merchant System has a 15% chance to trigger at the end of non-boss battles in Delves and Explores.
  
• There are 4 different types of encounters that players may get:
  • The Merchant: This encounter will offer 2 deals (1 costing Gold, and 1 costing Gems). Players may choose one of the deals to spend their resources on.
    
  • The Genie: This encounter shows a possible buff and a possible debuff. Players can take the chance to get the buff, but have a chance to get the debuff instead. The effect gained will apply in battles until the end of the Delve Map or Explore Run.
    
  • The Daemon: This encounter shows a buff and a debuff. If a Player accepts the deal, they will get both the buff and the debuff in battles until the end of the Delve Map or Explore Run.
    
  • The Angel: This is the rarest encounter, which will present 2 possible rewards for players to choose between, they may only select 1 reward.
• Players can close an encounter without engaging with it if they are not interested.
  
• Once the encounter menu has been closed, it cannot be reopened if a player changes their mind.
  
• If a player currently has a Gnome-A-Palooza running, Wandering Merchant encounters will not appear.
  
• Wandering Merchant Encounters won’t appear after the 4th Explore Battle.
  

• Flash Offers have had a visual update to match the new UI style.
  
• We have added new Bonus Rewards to some Flash Offers.
  
• Bonus Rewards are extra items that players will receive if the Flash Offer is purchased a number of times.
  
• Not all Flash Offers will contain a Bonus Reward
  

We have 3 new Achievements for this update:

• What Can I Do You For?: Encounter the Merchant 10 times
  
• The Faustian Bargain: Encounter the Daemon 5 times
  
• Touched By An Angel: Encounter the Angel 1 time
  

• We have added a button that will appear on the World Map while a Holiday Event is running, making it easier for players to access the Holiday Event menus.
  
• We have added new Heroic Gems to the game that will be part of future Campaigns or Kingdom Reworks.
  

• We have fixed an issue where changing a Guild Wars defense team would also cause the default Guild Wars attack team to change.
  
• We have fixed an issue where the Guild Wars unique defense troop bonus was not always being awarded.
  
• We have fixed an assortment of smaller issues.
  

We have made some changes to the UI around Troop upgrades. These changes are intended to make Troop Upgrades easier for new players, and faster for existing players, and also allow us to add new orb types.

• The Troop Card popup in the Troop Collection Menu has new buttons:
  • Arrow Button - This is the Recruit button for a team (Controller still uses same shortcut)
    
  • Level Up Button - This takes players to the new Troop Level Up Menu
    
  • More Upgrades Button - This is where players can do all other Troop Upgrades, as well as accessing Screenshot mode.
• Troop Levelling is now found in its own menu that players can access from the Troop Card Popup.
  
• The Troop Level menu will only have 1 means to level a troop, by choosing the level. The menu will default to the highest level the player can purchase (based on Souls amount and/or Rarity).
  • (Adventurer's Path Troop Level restrictions will also affect Max level possible).
• Players can still see how the Troop's Skills change for each level in this menu.
  
• In the More Upgrades menu, players will start on the Troop Overview Menu. This will present all Troop information (similar to the screenshot mode), so they are able to clearly view all information for their troop.
  • Players can use the Camera button in the top left corner to switch it into Screenshot mode.
• The Gear Button on the bottom Left side will slide out the Screenshot options (just like in the current version) so players wishing to set up a screenshot for the Troop may still do so.
  
• The Button underneath that in the bottom left side is the Skills button which will display the Troop’s Skills and a breakdown of how the Skills are calculated (e.g. how much Attack comes from Kingdoms etc.).
  
• The Traits tab menu behaves exactly as the Traits menu currently.
  
• The Ascension tab menu also behaves the same, however we have moved the Base Rarity and number of copies a player owns to the left hand side, and added a button for ascending all Troops which will be clearer for players to understand.
  
• The Elite Level tab menu behaves exactly as the Elite Level menu currently.
  
• The Orbs tab menu behaves exactly as the Orbs menu currently. Players will also be able to use their Orbs of Glory from here (more on those below).
  
• The Disenchant tab menu behaves exactly as the Disenchant menu currently.
  
• We have updated the tutorials for Troop Leveling, Troop Traiting, and Troop Ascension to fit these new menu changes.
  
• To help reduce time higher level spend upgrading their troops, we have added a button on the Overview menu for Players level 101+, that will allow players to Level, Trait and Ascend the Troop they are looking at, all at once using any available resources the Player has.
  

We have made some improvements to the Holiday Event.

• We have changed it so the Holiday Event Shop will be available for 1 week after the event ends, so players are able to spend any left over event currency. (This allows players who were in battles when the event ended to still spend their currency).
  
• We have introduced Golden Holiday Battle Energy that players can use to fight battles instead of their normal Holiday Battle Energy.
  
• Golden Holiday battles will give bonus event currency for Winning, as well as a small amount of event currency if they lose.
  
• Bonus event currency is a flat amount (so it will be the same regardless of a player's Difficulty in the Event).
  
• If Players have any remaining Golden Holiday Battles when the event ends they will be able to exchange it in the Event Shop for Gem Keys or Event Currency (during that extra week).
  
• Players can purchase Golden Holiday Battle energy from the Battle menu.
  
• Players will get bonus rewards after purchasing Golden Holiday Battles 3 or 5 times (this only happens once per event - once at 3 purchases, and once again at 5).
  
• We have added new things to the Event Shop that will appear when in the Event Shop once the previous offer has been fully purchased:
  • Golden Pet: This offer will appear after all the stock for the Pet Offer has been purchased.
    
  • White Pet Food Offer: This offer will appear after all the stock for the Pet Food Offer has been purchased.
    
  • Legendary Medal Offer: This offer will appear after all the stock for the TraitstoneOffer has been purchased.
    
  • Major Orb of Chaos Offer: This offer will appear after all the stock for the Orb of Power Offer has been purchased.
• These new offers can be purchased repeatedly.
  

We have added several new orbs to the game that players will be able to collect and use.

• Orbs of Forging: These orbs can be used to temper Weapons that use Forge Scrolls.
  
• Orbs of Ingots: These orbs can be used to temper Weapons that use Ingots.
  
• Orbs of Minions: These orbs can be used to increase the Max Level of a Pet.
  
• Orbs of Glory: These orbs can be used to earn Elite Levels on a Troop.
  

All Orbs (except for Orbs of Glory) have a regular version (whose effect will trigger for 1 level) and a Major (whose effect will trigger for all levels). This matches other Orbs currently (e.g. Orb of Growth = +1 Level and Major Orb of Growth = Max Level, etc.).

Orbs of Glory are unique as they can only be used on their matching Elite Level.

• Lesser Orb of Glory: Bronze Elite Level
  
• Orb of Glory: Silver Elite Level
  
• Major Orb of Glory: Gold Elite Level
  

The Lesser Orb of Glory can only be found in Chaos Orbs, while Orb + Major Orbs of Glory can be earned from Major Chaos Orbs. Orbs of Minions + Orbs of Glory are much rarer to find from Chaos Orbs than other orbs (almost as rare as an Orb of Power).

The new orbs can be used from the following places:

• Orbs of Forging: Tempering Menu for Forge Scroll Weapons
  
• Orbs of Ingots: Tempering Menu for Ingot Weapons
  
• Orbs of Minions: Max Level for a Pet
  
• Orbs of Glory: The Orb Tab Menu in the “Troops - More Options” menu.
  

We have added a new spell mechanic - Choice. Choice allows players to pick between 2 possible spell effects to cast.

Players will get to encounter Choice when it is released as part of the next new Kingdom, early next year.




We have added 2 new Warbands (Mech Masters + Hunting Pack) into the game. They will be available with Weekly reset.

• Mech Masters will replace Dark Assassin
  
• Hunting Pack will replace Poison Fangs
  

We have added a new Gnome, the Dragonite Gnome. He will have a similar chance to appear in regular and PvP battles as the Cursed Gnome.

We have also introduced Dragonite Gnome Bait that players can use to encounter a Dragonite Gnome in their next battle.

Dragonite Gnome Bait will be used if no Pet Gnome Bait or Cursed Gnome Bait is available.




We have 2 new Achievements for this update:

• Dragonflight: Match 100 Dragon Gems
  
• Gnomeo & Dragonet: Defeat 10 Dragonite Gnomes
  

• We have added a new Heroic Gem for a future Campaign.
  
• We have added popups in game to promote when a event is starting, ending soon, or to promote while an event is running for the following events:
  • Campaigns
    
  • Kingdom Pass
    
  • Legends Reborn
    
  • Holiday Events
• We have changed the Kingdom Pass, Legend Reborn and Holiday Events to unlock for players at level 10, as those events were causing some confusion to newer players.
  
• We have made collecting Keys in the Adventurer's Path easy to do, so if a player accidentally taps the Adventure button instead of the Keys it will collect the Keys instead. Players can use the Adventure button when no Keys need to be collected to continue playing quests.
  

• We have fixed an issue where some new players were able to access quests that are no longer in use (Stonehammer's Vault).
  
• We have fixed an issue where the old event medal converting to Medal of Seasons mail would sometimes also target any new medals for the current event.
  
• We have fixed an issue with Legends Reborn in Broken Spire that affected starting boards for other game modes.
  
• We have fixed an issue where the Treasure Hunt board would have invisible Gems after playing Legends Reborn.
  
• We have fixed autoplay from appearing in Treasure Hunts.
  
• We have made several fixes to text or translations within the game.
  
• We have fixed an assortment of smaller issues.
  

Gems of War Anniversary

Gems of War is celebrating it's 8th Birthday. To celebrate we have several things happening this week -

• Special Adventure Boards for the next 7 Days
  
• Anniversary Advent Calendar
  
• Broken Spire Kingdom Rework
  
• Broken Spire Kingdom Pass
  
• Broken Spire Legends Reborn
  

Broken Spire Troop Reworks

Ogre

• Regeneration trait has been changed to the new trait, Ogre Fury
  

Fortress Gate

• Spell will now give 5 Armor to all Allies if there are 13 or more Brown Gems on the board.
  

Rhynax

• Spell now deals splash damage instead of light splash damage
  
• No longer gains Magic at Levels 12, 14, 17, 19
  
• Now gains only 1 Magic at Levels 18, 20
  

Fire Lizard

• Spell now creates 3 Burning Gems instead of 7 Red Gems.
  

Ettin

• Role has changed from Generator to Warmaster
  
• Spell has been reworked so he now creates 4 Skulls for every Purple Gem removed instead of buffing his attack.
  
• Jinx trait has been changed to new trait, Ogre Fury
  

Stone Giant

• Spell now destroys all Brown Gems to boost the damage dealt to a random enemy instead of removing Red Gems.
  

Ograk Shaman

• Warded trait has been changed to the new trait, Ogre Fury
  

Obsidian Titan

• Obsidian Golem has been renamed the Obsidian Titan
  
• Spell renamed to Igneous Blast
  
• Spell now deals damage to an enemy, boosted by all Enemy Constructs. If the enemy target is a construct it will deal triple damage.
  

Lava Elemental

• Spell has been changed so it will now deal damage to all enemies and burn them
  
• Base spell damage reduce to 5 from 2
  
• No Longer gains Magic a Levels 7, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19
  
• Troop Role change to Mage
  
• Mana Cost increased from 10 to 13
  

Terraxis

• Siege trait change to Pyromania
  
• Stone Spirit trait change to Stoneskin
  

Rhynaggor

• Spell now deals heavy splash damage rather than splash damage.
  

Pyggra

• Spell now creates 7 Red Gems instead of 5
  
• Spell's chance to summon another Pyggra increased from 20% to 30%
  

Luther

• Spell will now also barrier the first Ally.
  
• Leader trait change to Knight Bond
  
• Grudge trait change to Fireproof
  

Sheggra

• Spell now creates 7 Red Gems instead of 6
  

Gog and Gud

• Spell can now target an Enemy (in case he chooses to activate the single target damage part of the spell).
  
• Spell will now give 80 gold instead of 50 gold (if that option is chosen).
  
• Base spell damage increased from 1 to 4
  
• Mana cost reduced from 17 to 16
  
• Giant Bond trait has been changed to the new trait, Ogre Fury
  

Amarok

• Spell's base devour chance increased from 2% to 10%
  
• Spell magic scaling increased from x1 to x2
  

Please Note: We will not be offering any troop refunds, as we feel that these changes have been either buffs or sideway changes.



Broken Spire Kingdom Pass

To celebrate the rework of Broken Spire, we will be running a Kingdom Pass for the next 5 weeks. This Kingdom Pass will introduce 4 new Troops and 2 new Weapons to Broken Spire.

Kingdom Pass Battlecrasher: Pyrophemus



During this Kingdom Pass, Pyrophemus is a semi-rare encounter in PvP and Explore, with the chance to encounter him decreasing after players have done so 5 times that day. Defeating him will give 1 Kingdom Pass Crown. Each Crown earned will assist players progressing through the Kingdom Pass. Each Kingdom Pass level needs 5 Kingdom Crowns. No more than 10 Crowns can be earned per day.

(His chance to appear will reset with daily reset.)

Kingdom Pass Rewards Sneak Peek


We have a sneak peek at a few of the rewards that will be available from the either Reward Track in this Kingdom Pass



When the Kingdom Pass ends, players will be able to earn these unique rewards in the following ways:

• Flame Rhynax + Fire Beetle - They can be found in both reward tracks. They will start appearing in chests 2-3 months after the Kingdom Pass ends.
  
• Pyrophemus - He can be found in the Royal reward track. He will start appearing in chests 2-3 months after the Kingdom Pass ends.
  
• The Molten Ward - This weapon is available in the Free Reward Track. Once the Kingdom Pass ends, craftable from the Soulforge during weekly events in Broken Spire.
  
• Slashing Embers - This weapon is available in the Royal Reward Track. Once the Kingdom Pass ends, craftable from the Soulforge during weekly events in Broken Spire.
  
• Minfernus - This Pet can be found in both reward tracks and can be encountered as a random Pet Rescue when defeating Pet Gnomes.
  

New Tarot Card: Ace of Wands



The Tarot card for this event is the Ace of Wands. Once this Kingdom Pass ends, it will go into the Vault after 2-3 months.



Legends Reborn: Broken Spire

For the next 2 weeks we will have a Legends Reborn event set in the Broken Spire. Legends Reborn can be accessed from either the Games Menu or the Broken Spire Kingdom Menu (if the storyline has been completed previously).


Broken Story Update

As part of the celebration of the Broken Spire Rework, we have gone back and updated the story. This updated story has been rewritten to use the new conversation style, and the battles have been updated to include a greater variety of enemies to fight against.


Replay the Story

You will be able to play/replay the story for Broken Spire during this event. The story will have multiple difficulties that can be played through as new difficulties unlock over time. Each time a new difficulty is completed, players will earn a copy of one of the new Pets.

Quest rewards from normal playthroughs of the story (Bonus Income, etc) will not be earned if playing the Story through Legends Reborn.


Earn Rewards

Defeat Brown Enemies to collect Lanterns to be able to earn Reward Tiers of the Legends Reborn event, including more new pets. Collecting the rewards for each track within a Tier will unlock access to the Bonus reward for that Tier.


New Pets



We have several new Pets that Players will be able to collect from the event:

• Ogress' Calf - This pet will buff the stats of the Ogress. It can be earned from the Free Reward Track in this Legends Reborn event.
  
• Flame Troll's Pup - This pet will buff the stats of the Flame Troll. It can be earned by completing playthroughs of the Broken Spire story within this Legends Reborn event at different difficulties.
  
• Sheggra's Slime - This pet will buff the stats of Sheggra. It can be earned by purchasing from the Gem Reward Track.
  
• Infernus' Imp - This pet will buff the stats of Infernus. It can be earned by purchasing from the Premium Reward Track.
  

Pets will be available as possible Pet Gnome encounters in 3-4 weeks time after the event ends.